A press conference called on Saturday 24th September at our Seminary launched the programme of activities to mark this anniversary. A Pontifical Mass said at the Cathedral on 4th November and presided by the Bishop of Gozo, will mark the beginning of the programme of activities.
On the November 4th, 1866, the building which had served as a hospital of the Order of St John, opened its doors to welcome its first seminarians. The founding of the Minor Seminary soon followed suit. The Minor Seminary is a Secondary School for boys and hosts 360 students. Fr Noel Saliba, who is Head of the Minor Seminary and who also addressed the press conference, referred to these boys as the Christian Citizens of the future.
Rector Fr Richard Nazzareno Farrugia said that this year should be a celebration of the past, the present and the future, and should be an opportunity for us all to reflect on the mission of the Major and Minor Seminary to face the challenges of nowadays in the same way it faced the challenges of the past.
The programme of activities include an exhibition, the publication of a commemorative book, a campaign to promote information and encourage vocations, an open week in November and a play.
Bishop Grech said that the Seminary is the kernel of the Diocese and a priceless presence in the spiritual and pastoral life of the poeple of God. Referring to the fact that the building had been a hospital, he drew on the connotation of the word ‘hospital’ to refer to the Seminary as a place that rears the seminarians and leads them to Jesus, ‘the great doctor’, so that they become true ‘nurses’ that cure the spiritual and physical wounds of man. He urged us, the people of God, to continue investing in this house of formation so that we will have more priests who dedicate their life to lead man to God.
